Keystone XL's builder faced darkening prospects

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Faced with dimming prospects for approval,
the Canadian company behind the proposed Keystone XL pipeline
chose to plead with the U.S. government for a delay on its fate,
signaling that prolonged uncertainty is preferable to rejection
of the $8 billion project.

Monday's appeal by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp
has been widely interpreted as an attempt to avert an impending
"no" from President Barack Obama to the nearly 1,200-mile
(2,000-km) cross-border pipeline. Keystone XL would carry heavy
crude oil from Alberta to Nebraska and on to Gulf Coast
refineries, and has become the symbolic heart of a struggle
between environmentalists opposed to oil sands development and
defenders of fossil fuels.

The U.S. State Department said it had received a letter from
TransCanada asking for the delay but a spokesperson said the
review would continue for now.

TransCanada spokesman Mark Cooper said the company would not
speculate on what the decision may be or when it may come.

But the Obama administration has become more vocal and
active on climate change issues as it closes in on its final
year in office, and the president has repeatedly expressed
doubts about the merits of the pipeline.

TransCanada's request for a delay came amid a darkening
political outlook for the project on both sides of the border.

In Nebraska, the company remains embroiled in time-consuming
disputes with landowners over the proposed pipeline route. And
in Canada, it lost a powerful advocate in October when
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had openly
allied with Republican leaders in his aggressive lobbying for
Keystone, was defeated by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.

Although Trudeau has offered cautious backing for Keystone,
he has also warned that both the pipeline and wider oil sands
development must demonstrate improved environmental sensitivity.
Continued...